c. 1467
Michael Kritopoulos was a native of the Aegean island of Imbros, west of the Dardanelles (now Gökçeada in modern Turkey). By the 1450s he had risen to prominence as a leading political figure on the island and was among those who helped negotiate its peaceful transfer into the hands of Mehmed II immediately after the sultan’s capture of Constantinople. Thereafter, under the classicizing pen name Kritoboulos, he authored The History of Mehmed the Conqueror, his only surviving work. It is incomplete, covering Mehmed’s reign only to 1467, and it survives in only one manuscript. But it is noteworthy in several respects. Classicizing in language and spirit (its story’s places and peoples are given classical names, for example, and there is virtually no discussion of matters of religion), the History offers not only one of the most vivid and detailed descriptions of the siege of Constantinople (§§ 117–257 of Book I) but also this brief sketch, from Book II, of the events surrounding Belgrade. In its studied neutrality, Kritoboulos’s terse, straightforward account offers a striking contrast to the narratives of Western churchmen, in particular that of his contemporary, Tagliacozzo.
Source: Kritovoulos, History of Mehmed the Conqueror, trans. Charles T. Riggs (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1970), 112–16. Reproduced by permission of Princeton University Press.
The Defenses of Belgrade
§ 89. Crossing through [the Sofia Pass], [the sultan] invaded the land of the Triballi and, marching rapidly through it and ravaging most of it, reached the city of the Paeonians that lies on the banks of the Ister. This city is called Belgrade. It is very well fortified on all sides and very safe, almost impregnable, partly because of the way it was built but especially because it is shut off on two sides by the two rivers, the Ister on the north, and the Save [Sava] on the south which here flows into the former. The city is protected by its lofty and steep banks, and by its very rapid currents.
§ 90. On the landward side, where it was much more vulnerable and could be captured with the aid of cannon, it was defended by a very lofty double wall and a deep and marshy moat, full of water. It also contained a fairly large garrison of Paeonian warriors, all well-armed. It was thus impregnable.
Siege of Belgrade
§ 91. The Sultan pitched his camp there, surrounded the city, placed his cannon against it, and besieged it.
Flight of Lazarus to Dacia
§ 92. Lazarus, chief of the Triballi, who had known from the beginning about this attack of the Sultan against his town, immediately crossed the Ister with his wife and children and all his goods, and fled into Dacia. There he remained waiting for the war to cease.
Look!
§ 93. The Sultan in his siege of the city partly shattered and partly destroyed the wall with his cannon. Then he divided his army into sections and filled up the moat so that it would be easier for the heavy infantry to get to the wall. This work was quickly done because there were so many hands.
§ 94. Those inside the city fought bravely, bringing up stockades and all sorts of defense materials, stones, wood, and other things to the wrecked part of the wall, digging a deep ditch on the inner side, heaping up the earth high, and using every other device for defense. But they never had a chance to complete the work, for the stones shot by the cannon scattered and demolished the materials they had gathered, and broke down the wall.
§ 95. John [Hunyadi], the commander of the Paeonians and Dacians, was encamped beyond the Ister, opposite the city, with four thousand heavy infantry, watching events. When he saw that the wall had been broken down and the moat already completely filled and that the grand battle and the assault by the Sultan and his whole army were very shortly to be expected, he feared lest the city should be captured by force of arms in the attack. Therefore he secretly crossed the river with his soldiers and entered the city and halted, without anybody outside knowing of his crossing.
§ 96. Since all was going in his favor – for the wall had been broken down to the ground, and the moat filled up, and everything else now awaited the assault on the inner wall – the Sultan thought he should no longer delay or put it off at all, but should swiftly attack the city with all the power of his army.
§ 97. Hence, after carefully arranging all his forces, be harangued and exhorted them much in advance, encouraging them to fight, giving orders as to what should be done, and urging them to show themselves heroes. He then led the assault on the inner wall.
The Sultan’s Attack on the City, Heavy Fighting
§ 98. The soldiers with a loud and fearful battle-cry rushed shouting against the demolished part of the wall, ahead of the Sultan. Climbing over this they fought valiantly, trying to get inside.
§ 99. But the Paeonians met them bravely, withstanding the assault and fighting valiantly. There was a fierce struggle there and many were killed in a hand-to-hand fight just in front of the Sultan, his men trying to get inside the walls and capture the city, while the Paeonians tried to repulse them and guard it.
§ 100. At last the Sultan’s men prevailed, forced back the Paeonians, and gallantly scaled the wall. In desperate fighting they [the sultan’s forces] beat them back, drove them into the city, and poured in themselves. They drove them back in disorder and confusion, and killed mercilessly.
Attack of John against the Sultan’s Forces
§ 101. Just then John suddenly appeared there, rushing up with his men. With a great shout he quickly frightened and greatly perplexed the Ottomans, repelling the advance. There was a sharp fight, with anger and wrath and great slaughter, both of the heavy infantry and of the Paeonians. Both sides fought well, and excelled each other in determination, acting heroically, the attackers believing they nearly had the city and that its loss would be a disgrace, while the Paeonians were ashamed to be beaten or to lose such a city out of their hands.
§ 102. But the Sultan’s troops at this point suffered heavily. They were hit in front and from above from the battlements, and from the houses on the wall they were attacked on the flank. Indeed, on every side the Paeonians attacked them. So, unable to hold out any longer, they gave way, and the Paeonians fell on them immediately with fresh courage and more vigorously drove them back foot by foot, taking some of them prisoner.
Repulse of the Sultan’s Men, Flight, and Pursuit by the Paeonians As Far As the Camp
§ 103. Driving them back from the wall, they [the Hungarians] followed them clear to the camp and killed some. And when they reached the cannon, they threw some of these into the river and others into the moat, while most of the men turned to looting the camp.
Later Attack of the Sultan on the Paeonians; Severe Battle, Their Flight and Pursuit, and Their Being Again Besieged in the City
§ 104. They would have wrought great havoc and looted most of the camp had not the Sultan attacked them in the center with his guard and stopped their onslaught. Fighting desperately, he drove them back brilliantly and pursued them to the walls, pitilessly killing and slaughtering them. Then with vigorous blows he drove them inside, and again besieged them in the city.
§ 105. After that, he left off pursuing them and went back to the camp. Not much had been removed from the camp, since, as I have said, the Sultan fell upon them so suddenly and put them to flight and chased them.
§ 106. A large number of other soldiers had been killed as well as several from the Sultan’s guard, brave men. The Governor of Europe, Karaja, also fell, struck by a stone cannon-ball. He was a fine man, one of the most powerful of the Sultan’s entourage, renowned for his courage and military skill and valor. It is also said that the Sultan himself was hit in the thigh by a javelin as he fought, but the wound was not severe, merely superficial.
§ 107. The Sultan gave up all hope of storming the citadel. It had already been very strongly garrisoned, and now many more had got in. Therefore he withdrew his army from there. After overrunning a part of Triballia [Serbia], he plundered it and captured forts and devastated villages, carrying off great quantities of booty for himself and giving much to the army. Then, having reinstated Ali there as governor, he returned to Adrianople, for the harvest season was now over.
§ 108. After spending all the autumn there, in the beginning of winter he came to Byzantium. So the 6964th year [1456] from the beginning drew to its close, being the sixth year of the reign of the Sultan.